Developed for Introduction to Soils or Soil Science courses, The Nature and Properties of Soils, 15th Edition, can be used in courses such as Soil Fertility, Land Resources, Earth Science and Soil Geography. The Nature and Properties of Soils is designed to engage today's students with the latest in the world of soils. This hallmark text introduces students to the exciting world of soils through clear writing, strong pedagogy, and an ecological approach that effectively explains the fundamentals of soil science. Worked calculations, vignettes, and current real-world applications prepare readers to understand concepts, solve problems, and think critically. Written for both majors and non-majors, this text highlights the many interactions between the soil and other components of forest, range, agricultural, wetland and constructed ecosystems. Now in full-colour, the 15th Edition includes hundreds of compelling photos, figures, and diagrams to bring the exciting world of soils to life. Extensively revised, new and updated content appears in every chapter. Examples include: coverage of the pedosphere concept; new insights into humus and soil carbon accumulation; subaqueous soils, soil effects on human health; principles and practice of organic farming; urban and human engineered soils; new understandings of the nitrogen cycle; water-saving irrigation techniques; hydraulic redistribution, soil food-web ecology; disease suppressive soils; soil microbial genomics; soil interactions with global climate change; digital soil maps; and many others.

This collection features four peer-reviewed literature reviews on soil health indicators. The first chapter describes indicators and frameworks for soil health currently in use. It evaluates the principles underpinning current approaches to monitoring soil quality/health and shows these principles have been applied in the development of a practical soil health toolkit for use by UK farmers. The second chapter reviews the range of physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil health and how they can be used in practice. It focusses on measuring soil health in organic vegetable cultivation and, in particular, ways of measuring the effects of adding organic amendments to improve soil health. The third chapter discusses key issues in soil organic carbon (SOM) modelling and the development of increasingly sophisticated, dynamic SOM models. It looks at the role of SOM models in improving soil health monitoring and developing decision support tools for farmers The final chapter reviews current challenges in collecting more systematic and reliable data on earthworm communities, including issues in identifying different earthworm groups. It includes a case study on developing a robust method for accurate measurement of earthworm communities in soil in assessing and improving soil health.

A comprehensive account of ore-forming processes, revised and updated The revised second edition of Introduction to Ore-Forming Processes offers a guide to the multiplicity of geological processes that result in the formation of mineral deposits. The second edition has been updated to reflect the most recent developments in the study of metallogeny and earth system science. This second edition contains new information about global tectonic processes and crustal evolution that continues to influence the practice of economic geology and maintains the supply of natural resources in a responsible and sustainable way. The replenishment of depleted natural resources is becoming more difficult and environmentally challenging. There is also a change in the demand for mineral commodities and the concern around the non-sustainable supply of 'critical metals' is now an important consideration for planners of the future. The book puts the focus on the responsible custodianship of natural resources and the continuing need for all earth scientists to understand metallogeny and the resource cycle. This new edition: Provides an updated guide to the processes involved in the formation of mineral deposits Offers an overview of magmatic, hydrothermal and sedimentary ore-forming processes Covers the entire range of mineral deposit types, including the fossil fuels and supergene ores Relates metallogeny to global tectonics by examining the distribution of mineral deposits in space and time Contains examples of world famous ore deposits that help to provide context and relevance to the process-oriented descriptions of ore genesis Written for students and professionals alike, Introduction to Ore-Forming Processes offers a revised second edition that puts the focus on the fact that mineral deposits are simply one of the many natural wonders of geological process and evolution.

Nutrient use efficiency is a measure of how efficiently plants use the available mineral nutrients to produce economic produce. Improving nutrient use efficiency is very much essential under current scenario besides an understanding of the nutrient dynamics in soil-plant system."Enhancing nutrient use efficiency: Concepts, methods, and management interventions" is a comprehensive book which has a compilation of topics related to enhancement of nutrient use efficiency of various crops and cropping systems. Although it depends on the ability to plants to take up the nutrients from the soil, management practices have a key role to intervene the use efficiency. This book has 27 chapters written by eminent researchers in the field and addresses multifaceted approaches to enhance the nutrient use efficiency. Improving nutrient use efficiency is a prerequisite to reducing production costs in the wake of escalating cost of agricultural inputs in farming besides minimizing environmental contamination. Soil physical management is the foremost strategy to enhance the nutrient use efficiency. Hand held devices are popular among the farmers for nitrogen management in rice in several parts of the country, besides slow release nitrogenous fertilizers. Experiences from Long term fertilizer experiments and soil test crop response correlation are of immense use to understand the nutrient dynamics in soil and in turn designing practices for higher use efficiency. Besides describing the concepts and methods of nutrient use efficiency, management practices for dry land crops and cropping systems, cereal based cropping systems, rainfed pulses based cropping systems, soybean based cropping systems, sugarcane based cropping systems, cotton based cropping systems, tobacoo and oil seed based cropping systems, rapeseedmustard based cropping systems and spices based cropping systems are also dealt in this book and would serve as a resource guide for enhancing nutrient use efficiency in various crops and cropping systems